Business
Stock Market Indices Down By 0.87%
The market indicators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday depreciated further by 0.87 per cent amid profit taking.
The Tide source reports that the All-Share Index shed 237.79 points or 0.87 per cent to close at 27,028.39 against 27,266.18 achieved last Thursday.
Also, the market capitalisation lost N82 billion or 0.87 per cent to close at N9.295 trillion compared with N9.377 trillion posted on Thursday.
Nigerian Breweries topped the laggards’ chart, shedding N3.50 to close at N109.50 per share.
It was followed by Glaxosmithkline with a loss of N1.10 to close at N30, while Flour Mills lost N1.04 to close at N19.76 per share.
ETI declined by 86k to close at N16.76, while Zenith shed 30k to close at N12.90 per share.
Conversely, Okomuoil recorded the highest gain to lead the gainers’ chart, gaining N3.25 to close at N36.25 per share.
Dangote Sugar followed with 28k to close at N6.04, while Ikeja Hotel increased by 15k to close at N3.27 per share.
Vono Products garnered 4k to close at 96k, while Learn Africa appreciated by 2k to close at 82k per share.
Access Bank was investors’ delight, accounting for 71.64 million shares worth N329.55 million traded in 179 deals.
UBA followed with a total of 38.95 million shares valued N117.73 million exchanged in 259 deals, while GT Bank sold 22.45 million shares worth N401.45 million in 275 deals.
Investors’ staked N45.49 million on 21.23 million shares of Diamond Bank transacted in 61 deals and Zenith Bank traded 20.26 million shares valued N262.92 million in 481 deals.
Reports say that a total of 235.55 million shares worth N1.94 billion were exchanged by investors in 2,953 deals.
This was against 166.39 million shares worth N1.66 billion traded in 2,917 deals last Thursday, an increase of 41.56 per cent.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
